Fast User Switching From Screen Saver

How can I make my Mac display the login screen (as though I'd selected "Login window" from the fast user switching menu) after the session has been idle for a certain time?
I can make it log out after some amount of inactivity, but I don't want that. I want my programs to continue running.
I can also set the screen saver to require a password, and clicking the "Switch user" button on the password dialog will display the login screen. I'd effectively like to skip that step and go directly to the login screen without having to push the button.
note: I stole the wording of this question directly from here , which was posted 2 1/2 years ago. One solution then was to download a custom Script Saver and use a custom Apple Script, and the other was to purchase a 3-rd party product which costs $50.
The reason I want to do this is because I am setting up an iMac for a family with small children. The iMac will be shared by 4 people, and training the kids to click on the "Switch User" button is a hopeless task, so please don't suggest "train the users to click on the 'Switch User' button".
Also, this is not my computer. I want to keep the solution as simple and fool-proof as possible, becuase I don't want to get called if something breaks (which is why I'm disinclined to use a script or buy a 3-rd party product I don't trust).

PS -- Script Saver has been discontinued.
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/9599/scriptsaver
So that's not an option anyway.

Similar Messages

Mac OS X 10.5.6 Fast User Switching Freezes Screen

The past two Mac OS X versions (10.5.5 and 10.5.6) result in the screen freezing after initiating Fast User Switching. Version 10.5.4 worked as designed, but 10.5.3 had the same issue. Seems to be video display related. Using a 20" display does not result in the screen freezing. Has anyone else had this issue or have any fix suggestions?

The past two Mac OS X versions (10.5.5 and 10.5.6) result in the screen freezing after initiating Fast User Switching. Version 10.5.4 worked as designed, but 10.5.3 had the same issue. Seems to be video display related. Using a 20" display does not result in the screen freezing. Has anyone else had this issue or have any fix suggestions?

Fast User Switching Freeze

My wife's Macbook has been having a problem for the past couple of months. If she attempts to switch users (away from my son's account) using the fast user switching, the screen goes blue and just seems to hang there. She usually just forces it to shutdown and restart. She has noticed that she can switch to the login window, then select her account, and all works well.
Has anyone else experienced this? Any fixes out there? Google has not revealed anything on this.

Have same problem now with my iMac -- when I had it in the past, it was due to account privilege issues -- if one of the accounts did not have admin privileges, but another did, system was prone to freezing. I suspect permission problems. I'm not sure this is the current problem on my machine; problem does not occur if I log out of one account before switching back to the first account.
Try making all accounts admin & see what happens...

Windows XP see blank screen when remote desktop to Windows 7 with fast user switching disabled

All computers are in workgroup environment, no AD.
Windows 7 pro are configured with fast user switching mode disabled so that only one login session can run at a time. When a Windows 7 machine remote desktop to another Windows 7 machine, the remote desktop 'server' will give 30 seconds count-down for the
console logged in user to accept remote connection, or when timeout expires it kicks out the console logged in user. This is completely ok.
This become a problem when a Windows XP rd client try to remote desktop to these Windows 7 machines, Windows XP see a blank screen if the remote Windows 7 machine has a user logged in, as it is waiting for the user to log off first. This is not desirable
as our administrators want the console session to be logged out automatically if they (administrators) want to remote desktop in.
Is this a configuration problem? Is this a OS design, can't be changed?
Valuable skills are not learned, learned skills aren't valuable.

Hi,
As I know, for RDP session in Windows 7, you don't need to configure the fast user switch option disabled. Windows 7 doesn’t support multiple Remote Desktop sessions by design, that means only one RDP session at a time.
I remote into my Windows 7 machine (which has a user logged in) from my XP machine, all work fine, the user logged in Windows 7 machine is automatically "kicked off".
May I ask a question? Does this issue happen in all XP machines? If you leave Windows 7 machine started and no user logged in, the RDP session in Windows XP established quickly?
I would suggest you keep latest drivers graphic card and latest updates paches for both Windows XP (Windows XP has come to its end of the lifecycle)and Windows 7.
Yolanda Zhu
TechNet Community Support

Trigger Automator action upon re-login from fast user switch?

I normally leave my account logged in on my Mac, and via fast user switching, return to the login window when I'm away from my Mac. (So my account stays logged in, but OS X remains at the user login window.)
When I re-login, (how) can I trigger an Automator action to execute upon my return to my account?

Try adding the action to your Login Items in Accounts preferences. Save the automator action as an application first.

Screen has a bluish tint after fast user switching and then warning tone

Hi all I'm having a bit of a problem that I hope someone can help me with. First the details, I have a MBP bought in late '07 and running Tiger. I was doing full backups using "Backup" and I also had Safari, iTunes, and Word open. I briefly switched to my other account using fast user switching and when I returned to the original account the whole screen had a blue tint to it. Like the color profile was off. This has happened before and a restart usually cures it, I haven't restarted yet but I am fairly certain it will correct the problem this time too. But is there anyway to prevent this? My second question is the one I'm more worried about. It also has happened before but usually when using more CPU intensive applications. When I went to System Preferences and opened up the display preferences in an attempt to correct the previous problem I heard a very loud tone. Like some type of warning tone, it was loud enough that it startled me. I had iTunes playing and after the tone the music got very quiet but relaunching it brought it back to normal. I'm just wondering is this some type of warning tone? Is it something I should be concerned about? Besides the music everything else seemed unaffected, although the previous times that this has happened usually when using handbrake there was noticeable problems after the tone (like applications crashing). All of these problems are gone after the computer is restarted though. Does anyone have any insight on these issues? Thank you.
-James

OK I ran TechTool and everything passed except for the volume scan. Then I checked this with Disk Utility and the HD failed for a few minor reasons, like invalid block count. I repaired it using the fsck -fy command in single user mode. The computer seems a little faster now. I don't know if this error is related to the beep in any way, I may try talking to an Apple genius to see if they know. Since it seems like pretty minor errors I'm not too worried about it but it does seem to be happening often. The last time I had this error was when I posted a question here about it which I just checked was on March 1st. So this error happened again after a little more than 2 weeks which seems excessive to me. Any thoughts?

Fast User Switching Hangs Computer Following Upgrade from Panther to Tiger

Upgraded my computer (G3 B&W) to Tiger from Panther, and now Fast User Switching doesn't work. Have a family of 5 that shares this computer. Each new user can log in, but when you try to switch back to an open account, the computer hangs. It worked fine in Panther. May be just due to the fact that this is an older Mac - if so, my second question is whether there's a good way to get back to Panther? It worked great on this Mac, and Tiger is noticeably slower. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated - Thanks!

Thanks for the link, baltwo!
This got me some good info on how mail messages are stored in Tiger, but unfortunately, I still can't find the missing messages, which were in the inbox in 10.3, but didn't show up following the 10,4 upgrade. I found the inbox folder, and it only seems to have the current files, can't track down any evidence of the missing files.
Thanks again for the reply - very much appreciated.

Disabled Welcome Screen - Fast User Switching

My computer says a recently installed program has disabled the Welcome screen
and in order to restore these features I must uninstall the program. The
following file might help me identify the program that made the change:
vrlogon.dll I didn't install any programs. This is a new computer, just
starting. Help how do I find and undo vrlogon.dll?
thanks u

I am quite sure the Fingerprint scanner software has caused this to your notebook.
Start the fingerprint software on your notebook and uncheck an option that says something like this:
"Replace Windows logon with fingerprint-protected logon"
I do not own a notebook with fingerprint software, so I am not quite sure of the name of this security tool. it might be something like "Protector Suite QL" which should also show as an icon in the systray. "Start Control Center", "Settings", "System Settings", "Enable Fast User Switching Support" should be the correct procedure to go.
Once you have done this, your notebook should start normally
regards,
electrochain
Please consider to reply and provide feed-back to this thread once you have your system working again so we will know what to suggest to other fellow notebook user with a similar problem like yours.

How does fast user switching know which energy settings to use?

When using fast user switching and keeping 2 accounts logged in, which accounts' energy settings take priority (assuming their settings don't match)? For example, let's say I set my account's display to sleep after 15 minutes and my wife sets hers for 30 minutes. If we both keep our accounts logged in and then leave the Mac on the login screen, who wins?
The reason I ask is because my display won't stay asleep. Unlike my example above, I've made sure both accounts have identical energy settings (sleep the display after 15 minutes & the iMac itself is set to 'never sleep'). I can get it to sleep (usually by pressing control-shift-eject), but it will not stay asleep. I don't think any applications are causing this (I've shut down all apps to test - only Time Machine is scheduled to run automatically). I'm starting to wonder if fast user switching could be the cause? I usually keep both accounts logged in at all times and return to the login screen before heading to bed. I then force the display to sleep with control-shift-eject, but several hours later I wake up to a bright room because the display has turned on again. I haven't tried turning off fast user switching yet, but I can see where that might confuse the OS?
Oh, I've also disabled waking on bluetooth activity just in case my wireless mighty mouse was losing its connection & waking the display upon reconnection - no luck.
Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated - it's driving me nuts, especially since I can't just turn off the iMac display itself without powering down the entire system.

Energy Saver settings are system-wide and not specific to the user. If one user changes the settings, it's changed for everyone. Screensaver settings are user-specific.
That said, the reason that the system wakes by itself can be one of several things: the system is set to wake up (you can set this under energy saver) by preferences or some application/service, the system receives a wake-up message from something on the network (you can configure this under Security, I believe, or Network, I don't recall), or you have "chatter" related to a device plugged into your computer.
"chatter" is when a USB device or FireWire device sends a signal to the computer it's connected to. Normally, peripherals are quiet if not actively in use, but some things (cheap USB hubs, certain mice, etc) will spuriously send a signal to the connected computer and cause it to wake.

Fast User Switching - having account timeout to F.U.S.

Is there any way to have an account timeout to go to the Fast User Switching (FUS) window? I see the option to have it logout a user after a certain amount of time...but I dont want it to log me out. Our Family uses different logins via FUS, and I just want to make sure that if I walk away from the machine that it will lock out the kids from either my, or my wifes account, without logging us off. Anybody have any ideas? Thanks

There are no built in ways to do what you want.
One simple way I can think of is by a small apple script tied to your screen saver. First make sure that your screen saver doesn't require you to type in the password. This is set in the Security system preferences.
Next paste the following into script editor
repeat
tell application "System Events"
if exists (process "ScreenSaverEngine") then
do shell script "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend"
end if
end tell
delay 60
end repeat
Save this script as an application and add it to your login items in the account preferences.
the program kicks in a switch to the login window within 1 minute of the screen saver being activated.
there is another way to do what you want by creating a new launch daemon but that is a bit more technical. I can explain further if you want.
Message was edited by: V.K.

Bonjour + Fast User switching = messages going to the wrong (inactive) user

We use iChat for Bonjour in our office– fast file transfers etc.
If a user is one of 2 or more logged in on a machine– through the use of fast user switching, we've noticed that incoming messages (initiated by another user on the network) will often go to the switched user (i.e. the inactive user) not the user we're currently logged in as.
We've been able to repeat the issue.
1. Log in as user 1, fast user switch to user 2 (leaving user 1 logged in but inactive)
2. Go to new machine, log in as user 3
3. Send message from user 3 to user 2
4. Look at user 2 screen. No messages
5. Send message from user 2 to user 3. User 3 will receive message, and will be able to send message successfully back to user 2.
6. Log out use 2
7. Log in as user 1
8. Notice all the messages that were going to the 'inactive' user profile.
Has anyone else seen this type of behavior?

HI MAtthew,
Welcome to the Apple Discussion Pages.
I have not seen this (I only have one Mac).
However there is an item in IChat Preferences > General section that can set the staus of the Users account to Offline or Away when using Fast User Switching.
What is yur set to and does it make any difference when changing it ?
Away in normal circumstance menas someone can still Invite you to chats (or Text you)
Ralph

Cannot login to secondary accounts; can't fast user switch

I am on a Macbook, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB hard drive, 10.4.8. Today, I developed a strange problem with logging in. I have auto login set so I log in automatically to my main account, which (thank God) works. However, if I access Fast User Switching to switch to a secondary account I have set up, called Test, the transition starts (the cube rotates) , switching to a solid blue screen...and never goes any further. I cannot seem to find any way to bring up the login screen on startup, either; I must allow my main account to boot up, and then try to switch accounts. If I turn off auto-login, I get the login screen, but login to the other account still fails.
If I select, instead, the Login Window from the Fast User Switching menu, I get that screen. But when I select an account other than my main account, and try to log in, I get that blank blue screen. I've waited many minutes to see if something will eventually happen, but no go. The only way to get control of my Macbook back is to hold down the power button until it shuts down.
I have run Tech Tool diagnostics and have repaired permissions (no errors found). I deleted my Test account, and redefined it; I also defined a second test account, one with admin privs and one without. No problem creating the accounts. However, when I try to log in to those accounts, the computer hangs on the blue screen.
I'm not sure when this problem began because I have not been using my Test account for a couple of weeks. A lot has changed since then.
Any suggestions, anyone?

More info: I turned off auto-login, and was able to log in to my test account. Then, I was able to use fast user switching to switch to my main account. I will try again restarting into my main account and see if I can switch to Test. This failed consistently before I posted here. Perhaps the "sense Mac guru" circuit kicked in and cured the problem. I'm about ready to turn in so won't post a follow-up until tomorrow. Right now, I need to use my two accounts to get the job done (a writing job with screen shots of a new unaltered account). Then, I'll go back to trying to see if the problem still exists when I log in to the main account first.

10.9.3 = major problem with fast user switching

I've found a major problem with the 10.9.3 update with my 27" iMac, you probably won't see it if your on a laptop. I did all the updates in past few days i.e., 10.9.3 combo update, iTunes 11.2.1.
Afterward I noticed a bug when Fast User Switching i.e. FUS. I have 5 accounts but the bug can be replicated with only 2.
I login to userA have some windows open but you can just open a Finder window. Now make the window at least half the with of the screen and move it to the right side of the screen. Then login in to userB and setup the windows the same way as userA. Now FUS to userA and then back to userB. You will notice that the Finder window has been moved to the upper left corner of the screen. This problem happened's to all user accounts you login to except the first account you logged into.
Since I didn't know what update caused the problem I had to use Time Machine to revert to my last version of 10.9.2. I then double checked the for the bug and sure enough everything was working fine. I now was going to install one update at a time and to see which one was causing the bug. So I installed 10.9.3 first and found the bug immediately.
I now know what's happening. When the switch occurs the screen is resized to about the equivalent of a 13" MBP. At this point the windows that fall some ware outside that size get moved to the upper left corner and resized. Then the screen resizes to normal but it's too late, all the window have moved and been resized to fit the 13" screen size.
You can reproduce this effect by going to System Preferences and selecting Display and then select the Scaled radio button. No select the smallest size, say, 1280 x 720. Now select the Best for display radio button again. You will now see all the windows you have open that were too big no moved and resized to the upper left corner. I know why the Mac moves the windows, it's so you don't have any windows stuck off screen.
Now when I say 13" it could be some other size but it's about that size give or take.

Yes, it's when you user Fast User Switching.
Here's snapshot before the screen resized. Ignore the window in the lower right, I moved it from the upper left before taking the screen shot.
I hate to say it but I'm glad I'm not the only one with this bug.

Video freeze with Fast User Switching

I can't seem to find anything on this specific topic in the forums, but it's plagued me pretty much since I got the i7 iMac a year ago. The problem is this: when I have more than one account logged in via Fast User Switching, the video will freeze on me. Details:
* by video I mean not the display as a whole, but any video content that is playing -- YouTube, iChat video, etc.
* only the video freezes. Audio keeps playing.
* if I close the other user account, video will resume its normal functioning.
* if I constantly move the window in which the video is playing, it will keep playing.
* if I switch away from the window and return, the video will play again for a brief second.
Those last 2 I find especially puzzling, and they lead me to believe that somehow the computer or the video card somehow is "forgetting" that it needs to redraw the video.
I brought this issue up to a very friendly and helpful Apple rep who suggested zapping the PRAM, which did help for a couple of days but even a restart will do the trick for a while.
Anybody else seen this issue? Any solutions?

Same here. Not specific to 10.7.x, had it in 10.5 and 10.6 as well. The problem is made worse when also using Screen Sharing. All video is stalled (audio plays on). Sometimes the video continues when the mouse is moved. The video also continues when the system volume is changed using the keyboard.
And with all video I mean really all video. Even transitions in the login screen pause until I press the volume keys.
Usually there is no problem with one specific user, and the stalls can usually be fixed by logging that user out, as if that user somehow "owns" the video of the Mac.
Very annoying, and I do hope someone has a solution.
Any specific stuff the other me too's here have installed? I've got Flash Player, Click2Flash, Perian, SizzlingKeys, Flip4Mac for instance.

Issues with Fast User Switching, language pref, greyed out menu options

I have only one user logged in to my Macbook. If i want to select the other user using Fast User Switching and clicking on the username in top right corner of screen, nothing happens. The other user at this time is still logged out.
Incidentally, when i click on the airport symbol, the wireless networks are often greyed out and i can't change networks unless in go into network prefs.
One more thing - i have english and spanish selected as languages in international preferences. I ca not switch back to english at all - by clicking on the flag in the menu bar or by going into sys prefs. When n battery power, power characteristics are also greyed out and unable to select a different profile.
any help welcome.
thanks

It sounds like everything in your menu bar is florfed.
Can you log in to the other user account from the login window instead of by fast user switching? If so, does that account have the same problems with the menu bar?

Fast User Switching From Screen Saver

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